Brendan Riehl

The paper’s staff writers continue to add news articles to the Pathfinder site. This online process of making news began after the Pathfinder migrated from paper a year ago. “I expect them to write timely and newsworthy stories that attract their peers on a weekly basis,” journalism teacher Debra Klevens said.

It has been nearly a year since the Pathfinder first launched its news online. Regardless, students throughout Parkway West are still not aware of the paper’s present location.

“I haven’t heard much about it; I don’t even know where to find it,” sophomore Evan Ristau said.

The Pathfinder transitioned from paper to web format approximately one year ago, under the direction of journalism teacher Debra Klevens. On October 10, 2012, mass publication of newspapers ceased as the paper traded newsprint for WordPress, leaving many former readers wondering just where it had gone. Now Klevens intends to get those readers back, with help from the staff writers.

“I have asked them to tweet out their headlines to their friends on social media, and I advertise it [the Pathfinder] in the parent newsletter as well,” Klevens said.

The benefits of changing the Pathfinder’s medium are, by some accounts, enough to offset a decline in the local audience; moving from print to web has developed a number of game-changing implications.

“It’s reduced costs tremendously, it’s allowed for students to write timely stories, and we’ve taken our audience from being local to worldwide,” Klevens said.

The effects of bringing the school’s news to a world stage are not lost on the administrators.

“I appreciate that people from literally all over the world have the capability to get a feel for the day-to-day aspect of our school,” Principal Jeremy Mitchell said.

For the past year, people the world over have been able to read the Pathfinder, and the students and parents of other high schools have taken notice of Parkway West’s contributions to the digital media. This introduction into online news has resulted in fan mail, some from as far away as the state of Washington and some as close as the neighboring schools.

While the lack of a physical paper has left many students unaware of the Pathfinder’s existence, the staff and readership will continue to promote the site and news stories within.